Making learning music fun, engineer and violinist Cathy Learoyd invented the Music Ruler. Photo by Phil Houseal
Details:
You can learn more about Cathy Learoyd’s music ruler by visiting www.musicrulersonline.com.
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Learning music rules
by Phil Houseal
Oct 6, 2010
Did your music teacher ever rap your knuckles with a ruler to teach you proper form?
Hill country resident Cathy Learoyd has invented a ruler that will help you learn music, but it is made out of paper and won’t leave a scar.
“The idea came to me when I was teaching elementary music,” said Learoyd, who has a degree in Violin Performance. “Teaching the concept of a scale is simply a pattern. Every key has a pattern - whole step, whole step, half step. That lends itself to a slide chart.”
Did I mention that Learoyd also has a degree in engineering from MIT?
Learoyd combined her expertise in music and engineering, spending two years taking her idea from concept to prototype. From a start of scratching rough drafts on a piece of paper with holes punched in it, she now has completed several versions printed on card stock.
It is too elaborate to explain in a column - you just have to try it. The concept is a sliding rule inside a sleeve with windows cut out. Sharps are on one side; flats on the other. As you select a key, you move the slider back and forth, allowing the windows to reveal the notes in that scale. The musician can use it to transpose, to practice scales, to understand sharps and flats, and to work out intervals. The one for violin even shows finger placement on the string.
(The ruler also has a handy mnemonic - Fine Chocolate Gives Delight At Every Bite. I think it gives the order of sharps - F, C, G, etc. - but I didn’t listen to her explanation as I couldn’t stop thinking about “Fine Chocolate.”)
“It is a good way to practice scales,” Learoyd noted. “You can place it on the piano or set it on your music stand.”
She plans to have a ruler designed for all clefs and tailored for different instruments. She also made a jumbo version teachers can use for demonstrating in the classroom.
While she is just starting to formally roll out her invention to the market, early reaction has been positive. “I went to a store and the man who was helping me look at merchandise said he was an amateur guitarist who wanted to learn to pick notes. He bought two rulers right there.”
She admits that her ruler has that “wow” factor. It is just a “fun thing to use.”
“As musicians we want tactile response as well as auditory feedback,” she said. “This is a tactile device. We need to touch and feel - you can make a different kind of connection.”
Learoyd is targeting her invention to the general music market, to music educators, and to the amateur as well as advanced players who want to learn different keys and clefs. It is only the first of many product ideas she is developing. But they all have to do with making learning music easier and less stressful.
“Kids need something to play with, and you need to get kids moving,” she said. “With this, you get to move around.”